One conventional practice is to impregnate one or more drops of fluid samples to be analyzed onto a solid sample carrier, dry the solid sample carrier impregnated with the fluid, and then send the solid sample carrier to a laboratory for analysis. The fluid to be analyzed can be, for example, blood of a newborn baby and the solid sample carrier can be, for example, a sheet of paper or some other suitable material which is able to carry the fluid to be analyzed. In the laboratory, one or more pieces containing the dried fluid to be analyzed are cut off from the solid sample carrier and the one or more pieces that have been cut off are conveyed, for further analysis, to one or more sample wells of e.g. a microtitration plate or some other sample well element. Each piece can be cut off from the solid sample carrier for example with a punch and a die provided with a channel for the punch, where the punch is arranged to cut off the piece with a single stroke through the solid sample carrier. It is also possible to use a cutting instrument capable of producing a localized, point-form cut on the solid sample carrier and to move the point-form cutting impact produced by the cutting instrument along the outer periphery of each piece so as to detach the piece from the solid sample carrier. Another conventional practice is to handle the sample to be analyzed in liquid form so that the sample is blended or dissolved in liquid sample carrier. In this case, one or more drops of the liquid sample carrier containing the sample are dispensed to one or more sample wells for further analysis.
One challenge related to the above-mentioned practices is the need to ensure that pieces cut off from a solid sample carrier containing sample or drops of liquid sample carrier containing sample are appropriately conveyed to right sample wells. Furthermore, when using pieces cut off from a solid sample carrier, it would be advantageous if the position of a piece in a sample well can be controlled when or after liquid that dissolves sample material or certain components of the sample material from the piece is or has been added to the sample well. For example, in conjunction with some optical measurements, it would be advantageous to ensure that the piece is located on the bottom of the sample well instead of floating on the surface of the liquid that has been added to the sample well.